Paranoia and other pleasant things

Moldova, day 1 - Lespezi and Agapia

This trip has been on my mind for a few years now. I never went to Moldavia before, but I’ve heard a lot about what’s to see there and why, so the idea of seeing it one day sat patiently at the back of my mind, until we bought the car. Then, when planning this year’s vacation I realised that it can finally become reality. I asked Robi, who was interested in visiting some terra incognita himself and so it was settled.We were going where the yellow counties grow (and an orange one, too):

We started from Miercurea Ciuc (also known as the capital of Harghita county), on a sunny Thursday morning, after we picked up Robi’s cousin - Gabor, the cousin’s wife - Katalin and their 7years old - Lorand. The trip over the mountains was uneventful, but then we reached Comanesti, Lori got sick and we weren’t able to stop fast enough for him not to throw up all over his mom and the backseat. Lucky for us, it was only water. Not so lucky for him, he threw up another 4-5 times before we reached his uncle’s home where they were to visit for the next three days. However, after the initial burst of vomit we learned to stop at the faintest sign of cough, before his neurons were even starting to signal for the mouth to form the word “stop”. We were fast, but, by Golly, so was his stomach. Final score - backseat vs Lori - 0-1.

Jus before we got out of Bacau, we noticed this monstrosity. Yes, it’s a real Audi. No, I have no idea why the owner decided to incorporate it in the house.

Gabi’s brother, Jozsef (or Joska, as everybody calls him) married a girl from the ellusive population known as Csango. They live in Bacau county, speak a medieval form of Hungarian, practice Roman Catholicism and are fierce keepers of their traditions.There are less than 10 000 of them left. The village Joska, his wife Monika and their daughter Sidonia live in is called Lespezi.We took some pics of the merry family gathering where you can see, from the left to the right: Moni, Sidi, Joska, Robi, yours truly, Gabi and Kati.I have no idea where Lori was.

After depositing relatives and luggage safely at Joska’s Csango Palace, we continued on our way north, until we reached Agapia monastery,in Neamt county. The sunny day changed into a rainy mess by the time we got to the gate of the convent..

as you can very well see here.

The candles burning for the souls of the living (”vii”) and the dead (”morti”) couldn’t care less, since they had an iron roof above them..

but the “toaca” (a piece of wood hammered a few times per day to call the believers to the Orthodox mass) looked really sad.

After visiting, we thought it would be a good time to find a place for our tent, so we asked a nun we saw sitting on the porch of her house

if she knew about any good camping spots nearby. She offered to rent us a twin bedded room for the lowly sum of 20 RON ( around seven dollars) and we gladly accepted. The room was full of icons and pictures of monastic people..

..including herself, in a much younger version..

than today, when she’s 82.

Her mind was still young though, and she was witty and talkative, so we stood up until midnight listening to stories about running away from home to become a nun, being an apprentice, going to the Theological university, surviving second world war, being a nun during commie times and going in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Too bad she considered Catholics “sectants”.

We went to bed while the rain was pouring outside and woke up an hour later to the sound of the bells tolling from the monastery tower. In the sleepy confusional state I was in, I thought there’s a flood and the bells are singnaling for the good people outside the walls to take their cars and run for their lives, like last year in Voronet. I woke up Robi and we went outside, only to be greeted by the calm sight of the nightrain and nothing else, We went to bed, managed to sleep until 5 AM when the bells started to sing again, and did so for almost half an hour. Around 6:30 we gave up on resting, and packed our bags. We had a long day ahead.

Posted under: on the road